September 11

I watched this documentary on September 11 on Monday night. I knew i shouldn't watch it as it would be really depressing but i wanted to watch it because i thought it would be interesting too. Arrgh so stupid. It was called 102 Minutes That Changed America and it was footage in real time of the events unfolding. The footage was mainly from citizens and what they were seeing. Some of it was actually filmed in one of the towers before it collapsed. I'm only mentioning it because as i watched it i still, even after all these years, am amazed that it happened. I know how ridiculous this sounds. I think i feel that way even more since i went there last year and saw where the towers were and now have a sense of the city and how uminaginable those events must have been for the people there. To see all the crowds in Times Square stop to watch the news reports on the big screens. Just so horrific. They showed footage of people plunging to their deaths from the floors that were hit by the planes and it must have been so awful to witness that. The explosion and the amount of smoke and how much it spread was just insane. Seeing how people fled uptown and to other burroughs. It also makes you realise how brave the FDNY were, charging into those buildings, it must have been so scary. Anyway, i just felt like mentioning that as it approaches September 11th...

Crazy Maisie

I had thought about getting a kitten for a while, i guess mainly to keep me company and having had cats for 17 years of my life, i do miss not having one floating around the place. After some more thinking, and getting some thoughts from the parentals i decided that it probably wouldn't be a good idea if i got one. Although that doesn't mean my flat mate couldn't :) Totty was always under the assumption that it was a 'no pets' flat and i thought it would probably be that way too until i asked my landlord the other week. He was surprisingly OK with it and even suggested places we could go to get a kitten, shelters that is. So i told Totty and she loved the idea of getting a cat as she'd always wanted one and is happy with having it as hers. I agreed that i would help out with the cat to make sure she gets the best care and plenty of company and would occasionally chip in with buying food and de-fleaing stuff. I really don't want fleas in the flat and Frontline here cost like £5, very different to the costs in Australia.

So on Saturday we headed to the Edinburgh Cat & Dog Home to go and see the kittens. They only had 3 kittens there which suprrised me as in Australia you go to the shelter and they seem to have like dozens. Plus, it is breeding season here in Edinburgh i'm told. The three kittens they had were tri colour 9-10 week olds that were abandoned and found in a barn so they were quite shy. Totty fell in love with one straight away so i figured we wouldn't be looking else where and walking out with her on the spot. So Totty handed over her £35 and we took her home. We are going to get her neutered when she is 6 months old and microchipped at the same time. Again, this seems to be quite cheap here, neutering cost £25. I remember it cost our cats heaps..although that was aaages ago. We went to Asda on the way home and bought supplies, you cant delay the purchase of kitty litter! We locked her in the kitchen as directed and hung out with her and let her freak out until she settled. I had mentioned the cat name Maisie to Totty (my Dad's suggestion) and she loved it, so Maisie it is. She freaked out a bit and hid under the stove and climbed her way into this covered shelf, so we had to break off the cover of the shelf to get her out. We will have to fix it before the landlord visits!

Maisie is settling in quite well though, and has her 'maddies' at night time where she runs around and chases her own tail. She's great entertainment. I just wish she stayed small forever. Luckily I'm only working two hours a day this week so I'm home basically all the time to look after her and help her settle before Totty and i are both out during the day for work. We are going to buy her a scratching post and some more toys and a tunnel for her to try and keep her entertained. Plus, she'll get plenty of love at nights, so hopefully that's enough.

Asleep next to my leg...

What's Up?

So the big news of the past week was probably the fact that i finally landed a job. I know my small group of loyal blog followers (i.e those bored at work) will already know this but i thought i should write this down in my blog. It took me 8 weeks and 60 odd job applications to finally land a Resourcing Assistant position at Tesco Personal Finance. It is a big step back in my career and not to mention my pay, but it's a great company and one with lots of opportunity. Plus, my decision to move here and work was more about finding a job that would earn me enough to live off, not necessarily a job that built on my existing experience. It should be quite a cruisy job in a way too, as i know the work inside out. It'll have it's frustrations (which i know my ex colleagues will be familar with!), because i DO know the work inside out but i guess i am so thankful for a job i dont care as much. I just hope i meet some interesting people once i start work. They said at the interview that it is likely to go longer than 3 months which is what the inital contract is, so fingers crossed it does. I will be assisting with the placement of 800 new jobs into Glasgow over the following months, and i dont think that'll happen in 3 months, no matter how good the company is at recruiting. The offices are based next to Haymarket train station so they should be only an hour door to door on a bus max to get there. The traffic is what will make it the hour. During the day it would probably take about 20 minutes. With the new tram system going in Leith Walk and London Rd get pretty congested and i need to take those roads to get from my flat to work.

It's not all that surprising that i ended up getting a job with the only agency that actually called me after i sent out an email to agemcy prior to leaving Australia. I sent out about 6 emails to agencies and Michael Page was the only agency that replied and actually called me at home to arrange an interview for when i got to Edinburgh. So i knew i would be on to a good thing with them. So if you ever come over here go for them as a start. DONT go for Office Angels, they are total liars. I will be sending them a rather rude email when i leave for home.

I've come here looking for work at a really bad time (which i knew!) but by the looks of what's being written up in the paper, it will only get worse for immigrants, so i am happy i'm settled into something before it does. I read this week that the Immigration Advisory Board is going to make British companies advertise roles for 4 months before considering people from O.S. I'm sure this is for more hard to fill jobs, but that wouldn't have been great for me if that was introduced prior to me coming here. It's nice to see on the news also that Australia's job market is slowly on the rise and that job ads were up last month. I hope that by the time i came home next year (perhaps?) i wont have the difficulty i have had here getting work.

PS - THANK YOU Dom & Monzie for being my referees :)

My New Favourite Things

There are many stores that i miss since coming here. You get used to knowing exactly where to go to get things. I head to Big W when i want a book for cheap or Borders (with a voucher!), i head to Myer for cosmetics and lingerie...and lastly i go to Cue for work wear. But what's a lass to do when i can get any of this O.S? I hit the pavement and try and find new alternatives, that's what! So far it looks like Next clothing might be the shop of choice for work wear, and Clarks actually have their own stores where i could get work shoes. Tesco's online does very cheap DVD's, CD's and books if i ever want to buy a book but i am yet to see what can replace good ol Bonds undies.

For everything i miss there are a few stores i have discovered and LOVE. One in particular is Cath Kidston. She does great gifts and homewares with a country garden type look. But funkier than Laura Ashely. These are a few of my favourite things....